In a bid to make the company more profitable, Japanese television manufacturing firm, Toshiba has decided to let go of 4000 people from its team. This restructuring exercise will affect about six per cent of its workforce in Japan.
That is not all; the company will relocate its office from Tokyo to Kawasaki. The objective of the job cuts is to achieve 10 per cent profit margin by 2027 and attain better stability.
After a decade of financial struggle, Toshiba was bought over by a group led by Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) in a $13 billion deal.
The job cuts do not come as a shocker. In April 2024, Toshiba had revealed that it was contemplating a significant downsizing of its workforce in Japan, eyeing a reduction of about 5,000 positions. At the time, it was reported that the move would affect roughly seven per cent of its domestic staff.
The focus of these job cuts was primarily be on back-office roles within the company’s headquarters, with plans to implement them through voluntary retirement schemes. This proposed reduction would be the largest since the fallout from the 2015 accounting scandal.
The move, then, was anticipated to incur a loss of about 100 billion yen ($646 million), covering expenses such as special retirement packages and outplacement services. This restructuring is part of Toshiba’s attempt to streamline its operations by consolidating its energy, infrastructure, devices and IT divisions into its main headquarters, aiming for greater efficiency and synergy.